ooduapathfinder:


www.ooduapathfinder.com

MARCH 15TH, 2017 ADMINADMIN

The Kaduna State Government’s response, in opposition to what it referred to as calls for revenge by the Hausa-Fulani in retaliation for the violence unleashed on Ile-Ife in the past week is a reflection of the problematic of the Nigerian State characterized by the Hausa-Fulani penchant for attempting an imposition of their authority on Nigeria, usually by disregarding existing State and Community Authority and followed a pattern anchored on the lack of response by the Nigerian State Power Structure to such acts of lawlessness.
The subjection of the Yoruba Nation(and by extension, other Nations inside Nigeria) to this State Power Structure is Legitimized by the Constitution of the Nigerian State wherein the Yoruba, as a Nationality, had no input; otherwise the Yoruba notion of law and order would have been embedded in the running of affairs of the country. On the other hand, the Hausa-Fulani enjoy a protection from the Nigerian State Power Structure which always allows them to act with impunity anywhere in Nigeria.
The last thing operational in the Constitution of Nigeria is law and order; where, on the one hand, the tendency is to always act without recourse to the establishment of the law leading to their taking such law into their own hands and on the other, the codified expression of law and order, physically manifested in its own apparatus, the armed forces and the police, becoming special purpose vehicles for the maintenance of the Hausa-Fulani hegemony.
What happened in Ile-Ife followed a pattern: any conflict between the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani always end with the Hausa-Fulani enjoying the benefits of the state apparatus against the Yoruba, so much so that the Yoruba always become victimized with their losses unattended to—and these had happened at all times, be it a market clash or “herdsmen” terrorism and everything in between.
This phenomenon led to the strident calls for “State Police” as a panacea. But such calls omit a vital point, to wit: issues of law and order are not strictly mechanical codes to be enforced; they are primarily a socio-cultural and therefore economic phenomena, where the purpose of order is the establishment of a peaceful atmosphere for the collective good already imbibed by the society under which it will be operational. Thus, for “state police” to realize its true potential, it must be derived from the social and cultural imperatives of the society; and the Nigerian Police Force has absolutely no relationship with the society it polices except as a force of conquest in tandem with other apparatus of State Power. Establishing a “state police” under such circumstances is to waive a flag at the problem.
Resolving this conundrum had also elicited various formulations, including, but not limited to “Restructuring” and/or True Federalism; both of which fall into the same problematic of assuming the Nigerian State Power Structure as already a given, and all that is needed is some tweaking, fundamental or not, in order to make it work and functional.
“ooduapathfinder” rejects this notion in the sense that “True Federalism” is only one acceptable form of self-determination; other forms like complete Independence exist hence none of the forms could be regarded as the end; for such an end could only be a function of its own Legitimacy, that is, the Legitimacy of the State Power Structure, the country that is to be.
Clearly, the Nigerian State Power Structure is beneficial to the Hausa-Fulani hegemony and this is why they always act with impunity, for they “own” that State Power Structure to the detriment of the other Nationalities, which is why all of those Nationalities always decry their “marginalization” in Nigeria, the latest being the Tiv Nation. Thus, the Hausa-Fulani in Ile-Ife will throw decorum to the wind and behave as if they are not subject to either Nigeria’s laws or Yoruba norms and can now start talking about “revenge” and pampered by the Kaduna State Government who also saw it fit to arrest Southern Kaduna victims of Fulani terrorism while allowing the terrorists to go free, even at some point paying them off.
The Hausa-Fulani rely on the Legitimacy of this Nigerian Power Structure and it is this Legitimacy that the Yoruba Nation and indeed all of the other Nations inside Nigeria must now de-Legitimize by establishing the Legitimacy of their own demands for self-actualization as the only way to address “marginalization”, however defined; more so when the Nigerian Power Structure has already delegitimized itself through its lackadaisical approach to “herdsmen” terrorism and Hausa-Fulani lawlessness all over the country and which, in effect, is an attempt at forcing a resolution on Hausa-Fulani hegemonic terms.

Within this mix is the run-up to the 2019 Presidential election wherein a Hausa-Fulani, Atiku Abubakar, is positioning himself as the legitimate purveyor of “Restructuring” when we know that such positioning has become a predictable precursor to electioneering without commensurate electoral impact. Atiku Abubakar is being singled out mainly because of the stridency he attached to the fundamental Restructuring issue while others are yet to make categorical statements on the subject.
Atiku Abubakar is a prominent leader of the ruling APC whose Manifesto promised to initiate moves towards True Federalism, but which has not found it necessary to initiate any kind of action along that line; he has not found it fit to either call the party out on it or suggest ways and means of getting the Party to actually make good on its promise thus leaving us with the only conclusion that he is using that necessary solution merely as an electoral hook.
Moreover, moves are being made by the “south” to create a “southern bloc” in order to advance the same Restructuring cause. Yet, a “Southern Bloc” is not necessary since, by definition, the idea of a “southern bloc” recognizes the Legitimacy of the Nigerian Power Structure, which, by itself, de-Legitimizes the self-determination quest.
Therefore, what is to be done is for all the Nationalities to strengthen that segment of the dominant political tendency in their Homelands that is ready and willing to pursue the quest to its logical conclusion; which means these dominant political tendencies have to be directly engaged, both theoretically as well as practically. But this cannot be done by refusing to recognize the Legitimacy of these tendencies in their own Homelands, in so far as they are conscious of the necessity to address issues of “marginalization” and “Restructuring”.
The importance of engaging the dominant political tendencies is underscored by the Quebecois and Scottish experiences: The Parti Quebecois became the dominant electoralist Party in Quebec hence was able to force a Referendum on Independence; The SNP in Scotland was able to push through its Independence Referendum only when it became the dominant electoralist Party in Scotland; in both instances, the Referendums lost principally because the extant State Power Structure was already a functional Structure in terms of its social and economic responsibilities to its peoples and thus was able to gain an advantage, by whatever means fair or foul; unlike the Nigerian State Power Structure which is the direct opposite, with force as its only option. But force itself is also a function of Legitimacy which it could not have; being the exact opposite of all of the above, it is only capable of imposing a particular hegemony, which is further Legitimized by the acquiescence of all political actors to its political paradigm.

The Nigerian Power Structure has already created the platform for its own de-Legitimization. Its National Assembly is embarking on some form of Constitutional Amendment, albeit with its own ambitions towards the 2019 elections. While it is admitted that the governors, especially of the “south” have enough leverage to negotiate certain items out of consideration for amendment, it must be clearly stated that these initiatives on their part will not amount to much if the Legitimacy of the entire power structure is not questioned.
And the way to begin to question it is to have the various Nationalities produce their own National Constitutions, which in turn will serve as the rallying point for the 2019 elections in their Homelands and whose results would become the Referendum on “Restructuring”, thus creating the basis for a Nigerian Union, if any; more so when a Referendum is the culmination of a political movement in a particular direction which the 2019 elections will become once the various Nationalities have been able to produce their own Constitutions to serve as their electoral expectation.
This mandates a change in the “Restructuring” narrative from mere electoral permutations to the resolution of the National Question itself. It will thus no longer be a question of which personality will be made to or capable of winning but which question to be answered, to wit: wait on such a personality to address the question(as some are already proffering) or make the Question the electoral issue itself? Either of which mandates certain practical steps for manifestation; the first step being the establishment of the Legitimacy of our demands through our various National Constitutions as the platform for the 2019 elections.

oyinkinola:
[s][/s]
...what all this jargon, very early in the morning?
....mr pathfinder, lobby the running mate for atiku to obtain your true federalism! is't that simple than incitement?

oyinkinola:
[s][/s]
...what all this jargon, very early in the morning?
....mr pathfinder, lobby the running mate for atiku to obtain your true federalism! is't that simple than incitement?

fanficgirl:

Idiot did you not read his post? He showcases how Atiki is just a continuation of Northern domination of the political structure. It's obvious Atiku won't do anything.
Nigeria needs true federalism not this moronic unitary system hidden behind fake federalism. All states need to be in control and not held to the whims of the local government.

Donshegxy10:

am sure you did not read or you don't understand what was written up there.
smh for Nigerian youth.

oyinkinola:

...girl! what is true federalism and which country practice it in the world? what your state didn't control and what you want to control more, beside milking the local dry, before asking for stupid true federalism, liberate the locals under you first and fight your looter governors, the poor masses will take you failed politicans serious then!
why not fight to have capital punishment for Nigeria looters or your true federlism rule with coruption!
bunch of looter politicians!

ovadozes:

Your illiteracy is the zenith of all illiterates in the world, just say u lack understanding or that u couldn't read what was written.

oyinkinola:

.....who born you? who send you to school? who build the school you went? with the money of who?
non sense!
Do you have gut to insult illitrates?
infact you are over dose!

ovadozes:

Just quit nairaland, go and start primary one...u re too crude to be here

oyinkinola:

....what ignorant! nairaland is no longer a media of opinion but of the stupid elite! ok.

ovadozes:

You are a stark illiterate, go buy yourself some brain if u can, your type belong to the beer parlour, pool house and Baba Ijebu kiosks

oyinkinola:

....stop non sense jooo!
am I posting on Education section on nairaland!
if you can't understand politics you keep off there, ok!

ovadozes:

Mtcheeeeeeew, my point is, stop posting stupid things